5 best songs from When Life Gives You Tangerines soundtrack

The South Korean romance and slice-of-life drama When Life Gives You Tangerines premiered from March 7 to 28, 2025. The series captivated the viewers with its star-studded cast, including IU, Moon So-ri, Park Bo-gum, and Park Hae-joon. The series was penned by Lim Sang-choon and helmed by director Kim Won-seok. It featured sixteen episodes.

The official synopsis on Netflix reads:

"On Jeju Island in the 1960s, the always dependable Gwan-sik falls in love with gifted but troubled Ae-sun — and, ever since, he’s devoted his life to her. Over the course of several decades, the two fated lovers forge a life together despite the disapproval of Gwan-sik’s family and Ae-sun’s personal setbacks."

Park Bo-gum played the younger counterpart of Yang Gwan-sik, whose only interest in life was to love his childhood friend Ae-sun and to create a fulfilling life for his family. Meanwhile, IU breathed life into the character of Oh Ae-sun and her daughter, Yang Geum-myeong. Oh Ae-sun was a rebellious kid who had dreams of becoming a great poet/novelist.

However, due to the unprecedented circumstances, she was unable to achieve her dream. Subsequently, her daughter Yang Geum-myeong strived to achieve her mother's dreams by educating herself and falling in love with the right person in When Life Gives You Tangerines.

The drama was produced by Pan Entertainment and Baram Pictures, respectively. While the cast received praise for their performances, the Korean Drama also gained attention for its direction, storytelling, and dialogue delivery. Additionally, the series featured a melodious and poignant tracklist to complement the emotional depth of the story.

The five best songs have been provided below for listeners to tune into.

Disclaimer: This listicle reflects the author's opinions and is not ranked in any particular order

Midnight Walk, My Love By My Side, and more OSTs from When Life Gives You Tangerines

1) Midnight Walk

Midnight Walk (Image via Spotify Website)

The track Midnight Walk features vocals by IU and d.ear, with lyrics penned by d.ear and Shin Hyoung Lee. The track was produced by Han Sam.

2) My Love By My Side

My Love By My Side (Image via Spotify Website)

My Love By My Side is a melodious track sung by Issac Hong. Written by songwriter Oh Tae-ho, it is produced by Han Sam for When Life Gives You Tangerines.

3) Name

The four-minute and ten-second track Name was performed by Kwak Jin-eon. The song, co-written by Kwak Jin-eon and Park Sung-II, was also produced by Han Sam.

4) Hwal Hwal

Hwal Hwal is a five-minute and thirty-seven-second track by the female artist Hwang Soyoon. The song was written by Jicheon and produced by Han Sam for Park Bo-gum and IU's slice-of-life and romance drama When Life Gives You Tangerines.

5) Ode to the Green Spring

Ode to the Green Spring (Image via Spotify Website)

Ode to the Green Spring was sung by Chu Da-hye. Written by Park Sung-II and Seo Dong-sung, the track was produced by Han Sam for When Life Gives You Tangerines.

Other original soundtracks from the drama include To The Land of Hope, Spring in a Heartbeat, Stupid Abalone, Your Daughter Worries, Themes of Gwan-shik, Is My Heart Like Spring, and more.

It is to be noted that When Life Gives You Tangerines has been nominated under the eight categories at the prestigious and trusted Baeksang Arts Awards 2025. The categories include Best Drama, Best Director (Kim Won-seok), Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best New Actress, and Best Screenplay.

The award ceremony would be held at COEX, Seoul, South Korea, on May 5, 2025, at 8 pm Korean Standard Time. The function would be broadcast live through various channels, including JTBC, JTBC2, and JTBC4.

About the author

Kirti holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism & Mass Communication and has been a Kpop writer at SK POP since 2022. She has been following Kpop and Kdramas since the last 6 years and but has worked in the genre only in the last 3-4 years donning several several caps - social media intern, copywriter, article writer and academic writer.

Kirti likes to pen down insightful features based on Korean dramas, especially the 'Ending Explained' categories. It gives her the satisfaction of creating the most authentic content rather than simply replicating what media outlets generally do.

Her process of creating content is time-consuming, yet methodical; she prefers to use original sources of information, which in her case are Korean outlets. She watches entire episodes, writes them down, cross-checks/fact-checks the details/event timelines off the web and eventually creates her copy.

Kirti likes Lee Je-hoon, IU, and Kim Seon-ho since she feels that their dramas are inspiring and have good plotlines. When she is not writing about K-dramas, she can be found watching them.

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Edited by Sriparna Barui